How to Start a Mom Blog That Helps You Lose Weight
This post is designed to teach you how to start a mom blog, beginning with the technical aspects of choosing a domain name and a hosting company. Once you have a blog started, it also contains fifty ways to begin building your blog.
Hi there! Do mom blogs make money? How do I start a parenting blog? Let me teach you!
I decided to write another post for anyone who is interested in learning how to start a mom blog because I am still getting questions about it all the time. Contrary to popular belief, blogging and “mom” blogs are alive and well – and people are starting new blogs every day.
(P.S. At the beginning of this post, you’ll find a tutorial that will help you start a mom blog. Towards the end of the post, you’ll find fifty “next steps” which will help you build your blog.)
This tutorial assumes you already have some blog/business name ideas in mind, and it contains my affiliate link should you choose to purchase a hosting package through SiteGround.
Using my link will not add to your purchase price, but it may earn me a commission, which keeps this site up and running.
Let’s go! Here are the steps to start a money making mom blog.
How to Start a Mom Blog That Helps You Lose Weight
Step 1: Choose a hosting plan.
Learn how to start a mom blog for beginners. In order to have a blog with money-making potential, you need your blog to be self-hosted. In simple terms, this just means that you own all of your own content and your site isn’t hosted by a free blog-making site.
If you make a free site that’s hosted by a free blog-making site, you run the risk of owing that company money when you start to monetize your blog. Because of that, a lot of companies won’t work with bloggers who aren’t self-hosted.
So, you NEED to be self-hosted. In order to do this, you need a company to host your site (and all it’s files). I use and recommend Siteground for all types of blogs. So the first thing you’ll want to do is visit their site.
Next, click “Sign Up,” on the home page.
You’ll then be asked to choose from three hosting packages – Start Up, Grow Big, or Go Geek. Here’s a snapshot of that page:
Do note that the prices you see on this page assume that you purchase an annual package. You get a price break for buying a year in advance.
HOW DO I CHOOSE A HOSTING PACKAGE?
If you only plan to have one site, you can choose the Start Up plan for now.
However, if you plan to focus on your blog a lot or have more than one site, you may want to consider choosing Grow Big or Go Geek.
The Start Up plan is best for blogs getting up to 10,000 visits per month, and if you are working on your blog consistently, it’s very possible that you reach this number in just a few months.
You may even reach the Grow Big number of 25,000 monthly visits depending on how hard you are working on your blog. (I reached 30,000+ page views in three months with my last blog, so I know it’s possible!) Just remember that you can always upgrade!
Step 2: Choose a domain name.
Once you’ve chosen a hosting package, you’ll need to choose a domain name. This is essentially going to be your blog name or something very close to it.
This is free with the purchase of your first hosting package at Siteground.
Choose a domain name that fits well with the topics you’ll write about and pick something that you’ll not be embarrassed to tell people about. Since you’re starting a health, food, or fitness blog, I suggest that your name imply this in some way. Your name is something that you should consider carefully. Remember that you’ll have this name for at least a year, if not longer!
It’s possible that someone will already own the domain name you want, so I recommend preparing a few ideas for this step. I also recommend that if possible, you include keywords in your domain name.
That means that your domain name (which will be your blog name and part of your URL) tells people at least a little bit about your blog’s contents.
For example, my blog name is “Ironwild Fitness.” My domain name is ironwildfitness.com. My name suggests to readers that my site has something to do with being home (because it does) and that’s useful in getting the right audience to my site. Get the idea?
Step 3: Finalize Payment/Make Final Selections
Note: I recommend domain privacy if you can afford it. It will just protect your personal contact information.
Once you’ve chosen a domain name and finalize your payment, you own a blog! You officially know how to start a mom blog! Congratulations!
Next comes all of the fun stuff. Don’t worry, I’ll help you with all of that, too!
If you’re ready to get started building your site and customizing it, check out this video for installing WordPress with your Siteground account.
The video should set you up so that you’re ready to start writing and editing your site. This is exciting stuff because now you can pick your colors for branding, make a logo, and customize everything else!
Step 4: Use Your Blog for Accountability
Now that you know how to start a mom blog, you’re surely wondering how it could help you with weight loss. I use my blog and social media accounts to publicly announce my goals and weight loss efforts.
Studies show that people who are using social media or fitness community apps are more likely to commit to a weight loss plan and actually stick to it. What’s more, people who participate in online fitness communities are losing more. YOU can use social media in the following ways:
- Create a private FB community to connect with people that have similar goals (like my Ironwild Fitness community for women who are on a fitness journey)
- Create a Twitter to update your followers on your goals/progress
- Use Pinterest to share your visual results or before/afters
- Start a Facebook Page to stay accountable
- Use Instagram to connect with followers daily and on a more intimate level
- Use your blog to write about your goals, challenges, etc.
- Grow an email list that’s connected to your blog and connect with others in similar situations
- The sky is the limit!
Now that you know steps to start a money making mom blog, the possibilities are endless!
So, do I have you interested in starting your own blog yet? Feel like you know how to start a mom blog and make money? Don’t hesitate to email me with questions!
